is a 1956 Japanese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Mikio Naruse was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967. Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook. He made primarily Shoshimin-eiga, shōshimin-eiga ("common people drama") films with f ...

Plot

Kiyoko lives with her husband Shinji and his mother in the family's house, where the couple runs a not-too-successful food store. Although their marriage is not happy, it is pragmatic, and both agree on the plan to open an additional coffee shop in the house, despite the mother's objections. Kiyoko asks her friend Sumiko's brother Kenkichi, a bank clerk, for a loan, which he approves. Shortly after, Shinji's older brother Zenichi loses his job. Together with his wife and mother, Zenichi puts pressure on Kiyoko and Shinji to give him the money to start his own business. Although both Kiyoko and Shinji are against Zenichi's plan, they slowly retreat. Kiyoko feels humiliated when she is told that Shinji visited a hot spring with a friend and two geisha. At the same time, she and Kenkichi develop a mutual affection, which they never openly acknowledge. When Shinji learns that Kiyoko was seen with Kenkichi in public, he offers to let her go, but Kiyoko eventually stays with her husband, affirming that they should carry on with their project to open a café.

Cast

Hideko Takamine was a Japanese actress who began as a child actress and maintained her fame in a career that spanned 50 years. She is particularly known for her collaborations with directors Mikio Naruse and Keisuke Kinoshita, with ''Twenty-Four Eyes'' (1954) a ...

as Kiyoko * Keiju Kobayashi as Shinji *

Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor and producer. The recipient of numerous awards and accolades over a lengthy career, he is widely considered one of the greatest actors of all time. He often played hypermasculine characters and was noted for his commandin ...

as Kenkichi * Yōko Sugi as Yumiko, Kenkichi's sister * Eiko Miyoshi as Shinji's mother *

Minoru Chiaki was a Japanese actor who appeared in eleven of Akira Kurosawa's films, including ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''Throne of Blood'', and ''The Hidden Fortress''. He was also one of Kon Ichikawa's favorite actors. He attended, but did not grad ...

as Zenichi, Shinji's brother * Chieko Nakakita as Kaoru, Zenichi's wife *

Akemi Negishi was a Japanese actress. Film career Tokyo-born Akemi Negishi came to the attention of international audiences when she starred in the US/Japanese co-production ''Anatahan'', her debut film. Josef von Sternberg directed the tale of shipwrecked ...

as Sumiko, Shinji's sister *

Haruo Tanaka was a Japanese film actor noted for his supporting roles in a career that spanned seven decades. Career Tanaka was born in Kyoto and quit school in order to become a film actor, joining the Nikkatsu studio in 1925. He eventually moved up to se ...

as Kunio *

Ranko Hanai was a Japanese actress who appeared in about 200 films between 1929 and 1961. Biography Hanai was born Yoshiko Shimizu in Osaka, Japan. As a child, she acted with the theatre troupes of Takeo Kawai and Rokurō Kitamura, and gave her screen debu ...

as Kunio's wife and madame * Machiko Kitagawa as geisha * Toki Shiozawa as geisha *

Sadako Sawamura was a Japanese stage and film actress who appeared in more than 200 films between 1935 and 1976. Biography Sawamura was born Sadako Katō in the Asakusa district of Tokyo. After dropping out of Japan Women's University, she was active in left-w ...

as Namiko *

Daisuke Katō was a Japanese actor. He appeared in over 200 films, including Akira Kurosawa's ''Seven Samurai'', ''Rashomon'', ''Yojimbo'', and ''Ikiru''. He also worked repeatedly for noted directors such as Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Kenji Mizoguchi. ...

as chef *

Yoshio Tsuchiya was a Japanese actor who appeared in such films as Toshio Matsumoto's surreal ''Bara No Soretsu'' (a.k.a. '' Funeral Parade of Roses'') and Akira Kurosawa's ''Seven Samurai'' (as the firebrand farmer Rikichi) and '' Red Beard'', and Kihachi Okam ...

Legacy

''A Wife's Heart'' was shown in the U.S. (including the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

) as part of a Naruse retrospective in 1985, organised by the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute and film scholar

Audie Bock Audie Elizabeth Bock (born October 15, 1946) is an American film scholar and politician who served in the California State Assembly from 1999 to 2000, and was elected to the Sarasota County, Florida, Sarasota County, Florida Soil and Water Conserv ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wifes Heart, A 1956 films 1956 drama films 1950s Japanese-language films Japanese black-and-white films Films directed by Mikio Naruse Toho films Films produced by Sanezumi Fujimoto Films scored by Ichirō Saitō Japanese drama films